Asian Americans for Change

Our Mission:

Asian Americans for Change (AAC) is a community-based development organization, established in 2007. AAC is a grassroots 501(c)3 non-profit organization who has served the Vietnamese American communities after Hurricane Katrina South Mississippi. Our mission is to strengthen our community though the stewardship of grassroots service projects.

AAC serves to bridge the gap between the Vietnamese American communities in the lower three counties, Hancock, Jackson, and Harrison, of Mississippi, with local, state and federal organizations. AAC was first established in response to the Hurricane Katrina crisis, which devastated the MS Gulf Coast residents, destroying their livelihood, damaging their homes and disrupting their community life. Years later, families are still struggling to recover.

AAC engages community members across generational, cultural, and socioeconomic boundaries to create unity out of disarray. We achieve this by filling the gaps in access to services caused by language and cultural barriers.

Our Vision:

We envision a sustainable and viable Vietnamese Americans community with language access to information and resources, focusing on community education, community engagement, workforce training, and advocacy.

Our Communities:

In Mississippi, Vietnamese Americans make up the third largest percentage of foreign-born resident behind Mexican Americans and German Americans. The trend of settlement of these foreign born populations in MS has been focused on metropolitan areas such as Biloxi, Gulfport, D’Iberville, and Pascagoula. Starting with just a few refugee families moving to Biloxi from Louisiana in the late 1970s and 80s to work at seafood processing plants in the area, the population has grown to more than 8,000 residents.

Our Values:

We respect, honor and promote the cultural diversity within our communities. We value the voices of all community members. We work in collaborative efforts, particularly with local communities, as we believe in the exchange of knowledge, expertise, experience, and resources. We act with integrity, transparency and accountability.

Our Service:

1. Provide access to critical information and resources for the Vietnamese Community
2. Increase access to services and opportunities for the marginalized Vietnamese Americans community
3. Build capacity for other non-profit organizations working with non-English speakers to engage the Asian Americans community
4. To empower Asian Americans to take on leadership rolese in our community
5. To advocate for the Asian Americans Community

Our Goals:

1. To assist the Mississippi Vietnamese community with existing language barriers
2. To assist the MS Vietnamese community with existing cultural barriers
3. Engage community members by bridging the the gaps
4. Boost economic development along coastal region
5. Promote the sustainability and viability of the Vietnamese community